Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.invest,americast.usa-today.invest From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: invest Tue, Sep 29 1992 Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 04:35:07 EDT Message-ID: 09-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update Sept. 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network WALL STREET HEEDS POLLS: Wall Street is finally paying attention to the polls. Traders, who shrugged off Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's lead over President Bush all summer, are now worried about a Clinton landslide. That has some analysts petrified because it would put a Democrat in the White House who could claim a mandate for change. Those worries have been creeping into stock prices for two weeks. (For more, see special Election package below.) MUTUAL INVESTMENTS LOWER: Investors poured $3.5 billion into stock mutual funds in August, about half the $6.6 billion that went into funds in July. Bond funds brought in $9.3 billion of investors' cash in August vs. $11.9 billion in July. The figures don't include redemptions and net exchanges in and out of funds. Funds say stock fund purchases this month are higher than August's. BIOTECH STOCKS CAN BE TRADED: The American Stock Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange have just received approval to trade options on their biotech stock indexed beginning Oct. 9. Both applied a year ago when biotech stocks were hotter than they are now. The indexes will give an investor an easy way to bet on further declines or a turnaround for the slumping bunch. MEXICAN PROSPECTS STILL EXCITE: The Mexican stock market has been stumbling lately. But long-term prospects continue to excite money managers. Friday, the New York Society of Security Analysts played host to executives from large publicly traded Mexican companies. U.S. portfolio managers attending mentioned some favorites: Telephonos de Mexico, traded here as an ADR; retailer Cifra B; Situr Grupo Carso; and DESC. SEC APPROVES FUNDS: Rushmore Funds is getting a big-name portfolio manager and Frank Cappiello is getting back into mutual funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved three funds - the Cappiello-Rushmore growth, emerging growth and utility income funds. Cappiello has been looking for a mutual fund to manage since the Carnegie group announced plans to sell the funds he managed. CAPPIELLO LOOKS FOR SUPERSTOCK: Frank Cappiello, new portfolio manager of Rushmore funds, has a proven theory for finding a superstock. Cappiello looks for increasing revenue, rising unit sales, rising earnings and low institutional ownership. Higher institutional investment may mean the stock is peaking, says Cappiello. The money manager also looks for rising price-to-earnings ratios. PHILIP MORRIS MAKES OFFER: Food and tobacco giant Philip Morris said Monday it offered to buy Oslo, Norway-based chocolate maker Freia Marabou for $74 a share, or $1.5 billion. Freia Marabou, traded in Oslo and Stockholm, recommended its shareholders accept the all-cash bid. The acquisition will not begin adding significantly to profits until 1994, says Allan Kaplan, analyst at Merrill Lynch. GOLD, SILVER DOWN: Gold and silver prices fell Monday. On the Commodity Exchange, gold for current delivery ended at $347.60, down $1.70. Republic National Bank quoted a price of $347.85, down $1.45. Gold fell in London to $348.00 from $349.40. Silver bullion fell in London to $3.74 from $3.82. On the Comex, silver was quoted at $3.730, down from $3.799. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3276.26 Tuesday after closing up 25.94 Monday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 228.70, up 0.97. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 377.25, down 1.24. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 575.34, down 1.86. DOLLAR OPENS DOWN OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mostly down on Tuesday. It opens at 0.5789 British pounds, down from 0.5839; 4.8940 French francs, down from 5.0135; 1.4518 German marks, down from 1.4823; and 119.77 Japanese yen, down from 120.70. (As of 3 p.m. Monday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) SPECIAL PACKAGE ON ELECTION: CLINTON COULD BRING OUT BEARS: A presidential landslide by Bill Clinton has investors worried. "I could envision Clinton being the dominant factor in a protracted bear market," says Robert Robbins, market strategist at Robinson-Humphrey in Atlanta. Robbins had forecast a 5% drop in the Dow if Clinton wins. Now he says a Clinton victory would mean a 10% or more drop between Election Day and sometime next summer. TRADERS FORCE STEADY RETREAT: The first five trading days after Labor Day, the Dow surged as traders expected Bush to whittle Clinton's lead. But it's been a fairly steady retreat since then. The Dow jumped 26 points Monday, a partial recovery from Friday's 38-point slide. But it's down 3% since Sept. 14. Bettors in Las Vegas and London were still favoring Bush as recently as late July, but are now in sync with the polls. SKEPTICISM GIVES WAY: Cowen & Co. polled clients before the Republican Convention in August, and found that most still didn't believe Clinton would win. Now that seems to be changing. "Suddenly, they are saying Bush is not just an underdog, but a big underdog," notes Stephen Leeb, editor of Personal Finance investment newsletter. He advises staying out of the stock market until after the election. (End of package.) 24-HOUR TELEPHONE INFORMATION: USA TODAY Money Hot Line. 95 cents a minute. 1-900-555-5555. Personal Investing editor: Martin Baucom. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM